Announcements

Entries for October 2014

The Land Policy Initiative (LPI) is a joint initiative of the African Union Commission (AUC), the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) established in 2006. After developing and availing to AU member states a Framework and Guidelines on Land Policy in Africa (F&G, 2009), with a view to facilitating land policy development and implementation the LPI is now focusing on facilitating the implementation of the AU Declaration on land and being guided by a five year strategic plan and roadmap (2012- 2016). The strategic plan is articulated into 8 main objectives, with an Objective 7 pertaining to knowledge management. .

Land Matrix is decentralizing and expanding its network with new regional focal points

In view of enhancing the quality of the Land Matrix (LM) database, but also to increase its impact on policy-dialogue, the LM is presently involved in a process of decentralisation and expansion of its networks. As a result of a call for interest launched in February 2014 fiveregional focal points have been selected and will support the LM on regional level data collection, research, policy advocacy and networking and communication. Our experience in the last two years (see box 1 for some insights from Africa), has shown that the process of decentralisation is essential in order to promote transparency and accountability in decisions over land and investment and improve data quality. Nonetheless, quality control and overall coordination is still necessary in order to guarantee consistency and compliance with LM criteria.

LAND MATRIX INITIATIVE

PROJECT SUPPORT UNIT COORDINATOR

Deadline for applications: 31 October 2014

The Land Matrix Initiative

The Land Matrix Initiative (LMI) is a global and independent initiative monitoring competition over land use in the Global South. Its goal is to facilitate an open development community of citizens, researchers, policy-makers and technology specialists to promote transparency and accountability in decisions over land and investment. The LMI has become an international innovative benchmark for its open data and development approach, database structure, web appearance, and multi-stakeholder character, and has received wide interest among policymakers, development practitioners, NGOs, the media, researchers and the informed public.

In view of enhancing the quality of the LMI, and increasing its impact on policy-dialogue and decision making, the LM is presently involved in a process of decentralisation and expansion. Five new organizations have joined the network in June 2014 and will act as Regional Focal Points - and regional, national and thematic Land Observatories will complement the well-established LM Global Observatory that monitors and collects data on large-scale land transactions worldwide.